''Where?'' you ask. ''Fort McHenry? Never heard of it. Was a battle fought there?''

Indeed, a significant battle -- the Battle of Baltimore -- during the War of 1812 between the British and Americans. Still not ring a bell?

Probably not. Except it was there, while floating on a ship in Chesapeake Bay, that Francis Scott Key wrote ''The Star-Spangled Banner.''

It's a song we've been singing more often lately, along with ''America, The Beautiful'' and ''God Bless America.'' But it was Key's poem started Sept. 14, 1814, the morning after this battle, that became our national anthem and encourages us to look with wonder and pride at the flag whose ''broad stripes and bright stars'' ever wave.

I went to Fort McHenry this summer. I'm a history fanatic, but it wasn't history which drew me to the fort. It was ''The Star-Spangled Banner.''

I have always loved the song. No matter how difficult to sing, no matter how many times I've screwed up the words, I can't help but be moved at the sight of the beautiful red, white and blue flag while that poem is sung.

Prior to Sept. 11, the only place I usually observed this feeling and felt a reverence for my country and its flag, was prior to some sporting event where it's sung religiously.

Now, I'm hearing it just about every day. And I'm probably more reverent and proud of what it stands for.

At Fort McHenry, before you tour the fort, visitors watch a video explaining the Battle of Baltimore and Key's place there.

Key was a Washington attorney seeking the release of prisoner, William Beanes, who allegedly broke a pledge of good conduct following a previous battle. After several days of negotiation aboard ships in the bay, Key and several others won Beanes' release. However, while negotiating with the British, Key and his companions learned of the attack planned against Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Afraid the men would warn the Americans, they were detained until after the battle.

Key watched as the British bombed Fort McHenry for 25 straight hours with more than 1,500 shells and rockets. Two U.S. officers died during the attack.

Thanks to the unyielding American soldiers, the British attack failed. As the sun rose early the next morning, a large American flag, with its 15 stripes and 15 stars, could be seen through the smoke from the previous night.

When Key saw the flag was still there by the ''dawn's early light,'' he said later: ''Through the clouds of war the stars of that banner still shone in my view and I saw the discomfited host of its assailants driven back in ignominy to their ships. Then in the hour of deliverance and joyful triumph, my heart spoke; and 'Does not such a country and such defenders of their country deserve a song?' was the question?''

He titled the poem ''The Defence of Fort M'Henry'' and had it completed by Sept. 16. It was published the next day. Not long after, its words were put to the tune of an English drinking song called ''To Anacreon in Heaven.'' It became our national anthem in 1931.

At the end of this video presentation, the National Park serviceman asked us to stand as the song was played. Just then, the curtains were drawn where beyond the window a copy of the large original flag waved over the fort.

Tears trickled down my cheeks. It was a breathtaking sight. Key did an outstanding job of placing me right there the morning after the battle envisioning this symbol of America's resolve.

It's still waving. Two less stripes, 35 more stars and one September 187 years later, that banner yet waves. You see it everywhere, so much so, there's a shortage of flags throughout the country. Americans are showing the world we made it through many, many battles and we'll make it through this one too.